brickbat means A piece of brick, rock, etc., especially when used as a weapon (for example, thrown or placed in a sock or other receptacle and used as a club). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
brickbat is pronounced /ˈbɹɪkbæt/.
Why “brickbat” is a great word
BRICKBAT — [Noun, Verb] A piece of brick, especially one used as a missile, or a sharp, uncomplimentary criticism; to attack with such bricks or words. From ‘brick’ + ‘bat’ (a piece, specifically part of a brick with one whole end). Unlike a casual insult or a gracious compliment, a brickbat is criticism hurled with the aerodynamic heft and destructive intent of a physical projectile. It is the jagged half-brick flung from a protesting crowd, the scathing line in a review that ends a career, and the blunt thud of an unadorned truth—the crude but undeniable force of a thing made for building, repurposed for breaking.
noun
- A piece of brick, rock, etc., especially when used as a weapon (for example, thrown or placed in a sock or other receptacle and used as a club).“[S]he sēt [sent] a brick back after him & hit him on þᵉ back, […]”
- A piece of (sharp) criticism or a (highly) uncomplimentary remark.“I beſeech ye friends, ere the brickbats flye, reſolve me and your ſelves, is it blasphemy, or any vvhit diſagreeing from Chriſtian meekneſſe, […] for me to anſvver a ſlovenly vvincer of a confutation, that, if he vvould needs put his foot to ſuch a ſvveaty ſervice, the odour of his Sock vvas like to be neither Musk, nor Benjamin?”
verb
- To attack (someone or something) by swinging or throwing brickbats (noun sense 1).“We had two boys arrested, both colored, for brick-batting a colored woman in her house. They were sent to the chaingang for 12 months each.”
- To assail (someone or something) with (sharp) criticism.